SHEA position statement on pandemic preparedness for policymakers: building a strong and resilient healthcare workforce.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many areas in the United States experienced healthcare personnel (HCP) shortages tied to a variety of factors. Infection prevention programs, in particular, faced increasing workload demands with little opportunity to delegate tasks to others without specific infectious diseases or infection control expertise. Shortages of clinicians providing inpatient care to critically ill patients during the early phase of the pandemic were multifactorial, largely attributed to increasing demands on hospitals to provide care to patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and furloughs.1 HCP shortages and challenges during later surges, including the Omicron variant-associated surges, were largely attributed to HCP infections and associated work restrictions during isolation periods and the need to care for family members, particularly children, with COVID-19. Additionally, the detrimental physical and mental health impact of COVID-19 on HCP has led to attrition, which further exacerbates shortages.2 Demands increased in post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) settings, which already faced critical staffing challenges difficulty with recruitment, and high rates of turnover. Although individual healthcare organizations and state and federal governments have taken actions to mitigate recurring shortages, additional work and innovation are needed to develop longer-term solutions to improve healthcare workforce resiliency. The critical role of those with specialized training in infection prevention, including healthcare epidemiologists, was well-demonstrated in pandemic preparedness and response. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need to support growth in these fields.3 This commentary outlines the need to develop the US healthcare workforce in preparation for future pandemics.

SHEA position statement on pandemic preparedness for policymakers: introduction and overview.

Throughout history, pandemics and their aftereffects have spurred society to make substantial improvements in healthcare. After the Black Death in 14th century Europe, changes were made to elevate standards of care and nutrition that resulted in improved life expectancy.1 The 1918 influenza pandemic spurred a movement that emphasized public health surveillance and detection of future outbreaks and eventually led to the creation of the World Health Organization Global Influenza Surveillance Network.2 In the present, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed many of the pre-existing problems within the US healthcare system, which included (1) a lack of capacity to manage a large influx of contagious patients while simultaneously maintaining routine and emergency care to non-COVID patients; (2) a "just in time" supply network that led to shortages and competition among hospitals, nursing homes, and other care sites for essential supplies; and (3) longstanding inequities in the distribution of healthcare and the healthcare workforce. The decades-long shift from domestic manufacturing to a reliance on global supply chains has compounded ongoing gaps in preparedness for supplies such as personal protective equipment and ventilators. Inequities in racial and socioeconomic outcomes highlighted during the pandemic have accelerated the call to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within our communities. The pandemic accelerated cooperation between government entities and the healthcare system, resulting in swift implementation of mitigation measures, new therapies and vaccinations at unprecedented speeds, despite our fragmented healthcare delivery system and political divisions. Still, widespread misinformation or disinformation and political divisions contributed to eroded trust in the public health system and prevented an even uptake of mitigation measures, vaccines and therapeutics, impeding our ability to contain the spread of the virus in this country.3 Ultimately, the lessons of COVID-19 illustrate the need to better prepare for the next pandemic. Rising microbial resistance, emerging and re-emerging pathogens, increased globalization, an aging population, and climate change are all factors that increase the likelihood of another pandemic.4.

Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America position statement on pandemic preparedness for policymakers: mitigating supply shortages.

The COVID-19 has had major direct (e.g., deaths) and indirect (e.g., social inequities) effects in the United States. While the public health response to the epidemic featured some important successes (e.g., universal masking ,and rapid development and approval of vaccines and therapeutics), there were systemic failures (e.g., inadequate public health infrastructure) that overshadowed these successes. Key deficiency in the U.S. response were shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and supply chain deficiencies. Recommendations are provided for mitigating supply shortages and supply chain failures in healthcare settings in future pandemics. Some key recommendations for preventing shortages of essential components of infection control and prevention include increasing the stockpile of PPE in the U.S. National Strategic Stockpile, increased transparency of the Stockpile, invoking the Defense Production Act at an early stage, and rapid review and authorization by FDA/EPA/OSHA of non-U.S. approved products. Recommendations are also provided for mitigating shortages of diagnostic testing, medications and medical equipment.

SHEA position statement on pandemic preparedness for policymakers: pandemic data collection, maintenance, and release.

The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology in America (SHEA) strongly supports modernization of data collection processes and the creation of publicly available data repositories that include a wide variety of data elements and mechanisms for securely storing both cleaned and uncleaned data sets that can be curated as clinical and research needs arise. These elements can be used for clinical research and quality monitoring and to evaluate the impacts of different policies on different outcomes. Achieving these goals will require dedicated, sustained and long-term funding to support data science teams and the creation of central data repositories that include data sets that can be "linked" via a variety of different mechanisms and also data sets that include institutional and state and local policies and procedures. A team-based approach to data science is strongly encouraged and supported to achieve the goal of a sustainable, adaptable national shared data resource.

Change in Provider Specialty Was Associated With Less Fluoroquinolone Use at a Veterans Affairs Long-Term Care Setting.

OBJECTIVE: In July 2021, as part of a planned multiyear broad and long-term organizational realignment, the general medicine service assumed continuous care of residents at a Community Living Center (CLC), which are nursing homes within the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. We hypothesized that practitioners accustomed to caring for patients in acute care would be more likely to prescribe antibiotics to long-term care residents. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: Residents of a 105-bed CLC associated with a large VA medical center. METHODS: Our cohort included CLC residents between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2022. We used administrative data to assess resident demographics and medical conditions in the 1 year before and after the change of practitioners. We also compared antibiotics agents prescribed and the following antibiotic use metrics in the year before and after the change: days of therapy (DOT) per 1000 bed days of care (BDOC), antibiotic starts/1000 BDOC, and mean length of therapy in days. RESULTS: Resident characteristics and overall antibiotic use metrics were similar before and after the change in staffing. The specific agents prescribed differed, with a decrease in fluoroquinolones (14.3 to 5.8 DOT/1000 BDOC; P < .01) and an increase doxycycline (7.4 vs 19.1 DOT/1000 BDOC; P < .01) after the staff change. Rates of Clostridioides difficile infection also decreased, from 6.23 to 3.41 cases/10,000 BDOC after the change in staffing. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The comparable antibiotic use metrics before and after the general medical service assumed care of the CLC residents may be explained by constancy in resident population and other facility-related factors. Differences in the types of agents used suggests that antibiotic stewardship efforts can be tailored not only to the setting and patient population but also to the practitioners' discipline.

Syndromic Antibiograms and Nursing Home Clinicians' Antibiotic Choices for Urinary Tract Infections.

Importance: Empirical antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes (NHs) is often suboptimal. The potential for antibiograms to improve empirical antibiotic decision-making in NHs remains poorly understood. Objective: To determine whether providing NH clinicians with a urinary antibiogram improves empirical antibiotic treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs). Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a survey study using clinical vignettes. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling of professional organization listservs of NH clinicians practicing in the US from December 2021 through April 2022. Data were analyzed from July 2022 to June 2023. Interventions: Respondents were randomized to complete vignettes using a traditional antibiogram (TA), a weighted-incidence syndromic combination antibiogram (WISCA), or no tool. Participants randomized to antibiogram groups were asked to use the antibiogram to empirically prescribe an antibiotic. Participants randomized to the no tool group functioned as controls. Main Outcomes and Measures: Empirical antibiotic selections were characterized as microbiologically (1) active and (2) optimal according to route of administration and spectrum of activity. Results: Of 317 responses, 298 (95%) were included in the analysis. Duplicate responses (15 participants), location outside the US (2 participants), and uninterpretable responses (2 participants) were excluded. Most respondents were physicians (217 respondents [73%]) and had over 10 years of NH practice experience (155 respondents [52%]). A mixed-effects logistic model found that use of the TA (odds ratio [OR], 1.41; 95% CI, 1.19-1.68; P < .001) and WISCA (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.30-1.84; P < .001) were statistically superior to no tool when choosing an active empirical antibiotic. A similarly constructed model found that use of the TA (OR, 1.94; 95% CI, 1.42-2.66; P < .001) and WISCA (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.24-2.33; P = .003) were statistically superior to no tool when selecting an optimal empirical antibiotic. Although there were differences between tools within specific vignettes, when compared across all vignettes, the TA and WISCA performed similarly for active (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.92-1.30; P = .59) and optimal (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.64-1.20; P = .69) antibiotics. Conclusions and Relevance: Providing NH clinicians with a urinary antibiogram was associated with selection of active and optimal antibiotics when empirically treating UTIs under simulated conditions. Although the antibiogram format was not associated with decision-making in aggregate, context-specific effects may have been present, supporting further study of syndromic antibiograms in clinical practice.

Donepezil-associated survival benefits among Alzheimer's disease patients are retained but not enhanced during COVID-19 infections.

Background and Aim: Donepezil is a front-line treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Donepezil treatment is associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality. Specific protection is observed in pneumonia and cardiovascular disease. We hypothesized that donepezil treatment would improve mortality among Alzheimer's patients following infection with COVID-19. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of ongoing donepezil treatment on survival in Alzheimer's disease patients after polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 infection. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. We conducted a national survey of Veterans with Alzheimer's disease to assess the influence of ongoing donepezil treatment on survival in Alzheimer's disease patients after PCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection. We assessed all-cause 30-day mortality stratified by COVID-19 infection and donepezil use, estimating odds ratios using multivariate logistic regression. Results: Among people with Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 29% (47/163) for people taking donepezil compared with 38% (159/419) for those who were not. Among people with Alzheimer's disease without COVID-19, all-cause 30-day mortality was 5% (189/4189) for people taking donepezil compared with 7% (712/10,241) for those who were not. Adjusting for covariates, the decrease in mortality associated with donepezil did not differ between people with and without COVID-19 (interaction p = 0.710). Conclusion: The known survival benefits of donepezil were retained but not found to be specific to COVID-19 among people with Alzheimer's disease.

Low rates of antibiotics prescribed during telehealth primary-care visits persisted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

For primary care clinics at a Veterans' Affairs (VA) medical center, the shift from in-person to telehealth visits during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic was associated with low rates of antibiotic prescription. Understanding contextual factors associated with antibiotic prescription practices during telehealth visits may help promote antibiotic stewardship in primary care settings.

Bacteriuria in older adults triggers confusion in healthcare providers: A mindful pause to treat the worry.

The evidence base for refraining from screening for or treating asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) in older adults is strong, but both practices remain prevalent. Clinical confusion over how to respond to a change from baseline, when to order a urinalysis and urine culture, and what to do with a positive urine culture fuels unnecessary antibiotic use for ASB. If the provider can take a mindful pause to apply evidenced-based assessment tools, the resulting increased clarity in how to manage the situation can reduce overtreatment of ASB.

Neither Race nor Ethnicity Impact the Mortality of Residents of Veterans Affairs Community Living Center With COVID-19.

OBJECTIVES: COVID-19 disproportionately affected nursing home residents and people from racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. Nursing homes in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system, termed Community Living Centers (CLCs), belong to a national managed care system. In the period prior to the availability of vaccines, we examined whether residents from racial and ethnic minorities experienced disparities in COVID-19 related mortality. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Residents at 134 VA CLCs from April 14 to December 10, 2020. METHODS: We used the VA Corporate Data Warehouse to identify VA CLC residents with a positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction test during or 2 days prior to their admission and without a prior case of COVID-19. We assessed age, self-reported race/ethnicity, frailty, chronic medical conditions, Charlson comorbidity index, the annual quarter of the infection, and all-cause 30-day mortality. We estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of all-cause 30-day mortality using a mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression model. RESULTS: During the study period, 1133 CLC residents had an index positive SARS-CoV-2 test. Mortality at 30 days was 23% for White non-Hispanic residents, 15% for Black non-Hispanic residents, 10% for Hispanic residents, and 16% for other residents. Factors associated with increased 30-day mortality were age ≥70 years, Charlson comorbidity index ≥6, and a positive SARS-CoV-2 test between April 14 and June 30, 2020. Frailty, Black race, and Hispanic ethnicity were not independently associated with an increased risk of 30-day mortality. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Among a national cohort of VA CLC residents with COVID-19, neither Black race nor Hispanic ethnicity had a negative impact on survival. Further research is needed to determine factors within the VA health care system that mitigate the influence of systemic racism on COVID-19 outcomes in US nursing homes.

Group B Streptococcus in the urine in nonpregnant adults: Disease or distraction?

In this large, retrospective cohort study, we used administrative data to evaluate nonpregnant adults with group B Streptococcus (GBS) bacteriuria. We found greater all-cause mortality in those with urinary tract infections compared to asymptomatic bacteriuria. Differences in patients' baseline characteristics and the 1-year mortality rate raise the possibility that provider practices contribute to differences observed.

An Implementation Roadmap for Establishing Remote Infectious Disease Specialist Support for Consultation and Antibiotic Stewardship in Resource-Limited Settings.

Infectious Disease (ID)-trained specialists, defined as ID pharmacists and ID physicians, improve hospital care by providing consultations to patients with complicated infections and by leading programs that monitor and improve antibiotic prescribing. However, many hospitals and nursing homes lack access to ID specialists. Telehealth is an effective tool to deliver ID specialist expertise to resource-limited settings. Telehealth services are most useful when they are adapted to meet the needs and resources of the local setting. In this step-by-step guide, we describe how a tailored telehealth program can be implemented to provide remote ID specialist support for direct patient consultation and to support local antibiotic stewardship activities. We outline 3 major phases of putting a telehealth program into effect: pre-implementation, implementation, and sustainment. To increase the likelihood of success, we recommend actively involving local leadership and other stakeholders in all aspects of developing, implementing, measuring, and refining programmatic activities.

Antibiotic exposure and acquisition of antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria among outpatients at a US Veterans Affairs medical center.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant gram-negative bacteria (R-GNB) among patients without recent hospitalization and to examine the influence of outpatient antibiotic exposure on the risk of acquiring R-GNB in this population. Design: 2-year retrospective cohort study. Setting: Regional Veterans Affairs healthcare system. Patients: Outpatients at 13 community-based clinics. Methods: We examined the rate of acquisition of R-GNB within 90 days following an outpatient visit from 2018 to 2019. We used clinical and administrative databases to determine and summarize prescriptions for systemic antibiotics, associated infectious diagnoses, and subsequent R-GNB acquisition among patients without recent hospitalizations. We also calculated the odds ratio of R-GNB acquisition following antibiotic exposure. Results: During the 2-year study period, 7,215 patients had outpatient visits with microbiological cultures obtained within 90 days. Of these patients, 206 (2.9%) acquired an R-GNB. Among patients receiving antibiotics at the visit, 4.6% acquired a R-GNB compared to 2.7% among patients who did not receive antibiotics, yielding an unadjusted odds ratio of 1.75 (95% confidence interval, 1.18-2.52) for a R-GNB following an outpatient visit with versus without an antibiotic exposure. Regardless of R-GNB occurrence, >50% of antibiotic prescriptions were issued at visits without an infectious disease diagnosis or issued without documentation of an in-person or telehealth clinical encounter. Conclusions: Although the rate of R-GNBs was low (2.9%), the 1.75-fold increased odds of acquiring a R-GNB following an outpatient antibiotic highlights the importance of antimicrobial stewardship efforts in outpatient settings. Specific opportunities include reducing antibiotics prescribed without an infectious diagnosis or a clinical visit.

Expanding the definition beyond surveillance criteria reveals a large burden of osteomyelitis caused by group B Streptococcus in the United States Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: Population-based surveillance studies may underestimate osteomyelitis caused by Group B Streptococcus (GBS). We analyzed cases of GBS osteomyelitis, including patients diagnosed using an expanded case definition that incorporates cultures from non-sterile sites, as well as cultures from normally sterile sites. METHODS: We retrospectively examined a cohort of veterans with the diagnosis of osteomyelitis between 2008 and 2017. Cases of definite GBS osteomyelitis required GBS isolation from normally sterile sites, (e.g., blood or bone). Cases of probable GBS osteomyelitis permitted GBS isolation from non-sterile sites (e.g., surgical sites, wounds). We compared comorbid conditions, lower extremity amputation and mortality rates in these groups. RESULTS: Among 1281 cases of GBS osteomyelitis, the median age was 63 years, 87% had diabetes mellitus and 37% had peripheral vascular disease. Similar characteristics were found in 768 (60%) cases classified as definite and 513 (40%) classified as probable GBS osteomyelitis. Polymicrobial infection was less frequent in patients with definite than with probable GBS osteomyelitis (45% vs. 85%; P < 0.001). Mortality rates within 1-year were similar for definite and probable GBS osteomyelitis (12% vs. 10%). Amputation within 1-year occurred in 21% of those with definite and 10% of those with probable GBS osteomyelitis of the lower extremity, with comparable rates in the subset with monomicrobial infection. CONCLUSIONS: Expanding the definition of GBS osteomyelitis to include cases with cultures from non-sterile sites may be warranted, increasing the estimated burden of GBS osteomyelitis. This can help guide preventive efforts to reduce the impact of GBS osteomyelitis.

Implementation of an Antibiotic Stewardship Program in Long-term Care Facilities Across the US.

IMPORTANCE: Antibiotic overuse in long-term care (LTC) is common, prompting calls for antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs) designed for specific use in these settings. The optimal approach to establish robust, sustainable ASPs in LTC facilities is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To determine if the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Safety Program for Improving Antibiotic Use, an educational initiative to establish ASPs focusing on patient safety, is associated with reductions in antibiotic use in LTC settings. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This quality improvement study including 439 LTC facilities in the US assessed antibiotic therapy data following a pragmatic quality-improvement program, which was implemented to assist facilities in establishing ASPs and with antibiotic decision-making. Training was conducted between December 2018 and November 2019. Data were analyzed from January 2019 to December 2019. INTERVENTIONS: Fifteen webinars occurred over 12 months (December 2018 to November 2019), accompanied by additional tools, activities, posters, and pocket cards. All clinical staff were encouraged to participate. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was antibiotic starts per 1000 resident-days. Secondary outcomes included days of antibiotic therapy (DOT) per 1000 resident-days, the number of urine cultures per 1000 resident-days, and Clostridioides difficile laboratory-identified events per 10 000 resident-days. All outcomes compared data from the baseline (January-February 2019) to the completion of the program (November-December 2019). Generalized linear mixed models with random intercepts at the site level assessed changes over time. RESULTS: Of a total 523 eligible LTC facilities, 439 (83.9%) completed the safety program. The mean difference for antibiotic starts from baseline to study completion per 1000 resident-days was -0.41 (95% CI, -0.76 to -0.07; P = .02), with fluoroquinolones showing the greatest decrease at -0.21 starts per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -0.35 to -0.08; P = .002). The mean difference for antibiotic DOT per 1000 resident-days was not significant (-3.05; 95% CI, -6.34 to 0.23; P = .07). Reductions in antibiotic starts and use were greater in facilities with greater program engagement (as measured by webinar attendance). While antibiotic starts and DOT in these facilities decreased by 1.12 per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -1.75 to -0.49; P < .001) and 9.97 per 1000 resident-days (95% CI, -15.4 to -4.6; P < .001), respectively, no significant reductions occurred in low engagement facilities. Urine cultures per 1000 resident-days decreased by 0.38 (95% CI, -0.61 to -0.15; P = .001). There was no significant change in facility-onset C difficile laboratory-identified events. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Participation in the AHRQ safety program was associated with the development of ASPs that actively engaged clinical staff in the decision-making processes around antibiotic prescriptions in participating LTC facilities. The reduction in antibiotic DOT and starts, which was more pronounced in more engaged facilities, indicates that implementation of this multifaceted program may support successful ASPs in LTC settings.